Slavery and the New Testament

As we turn to the New Testament we confront many problems associated with its attitude to slavery. There is no programme for a new social order, as we might have expected: no suggestion that slaves ought to be freed. Indeed, we could be forgiven for believing that throughout the New Testament the institution is bolstered up by the apostolic exhortations to masters and slaves (Eph 6:5-9; Col 3:22; 1 Pet 2:18-25). The circumstances of human life are apparently accepted as found. On the other hand, Longenecker, for example, points out that Galatians 3:28 (‘There is neither... slave nor free’) is an idea pregnant with societal implications. Yet, this is not apparent from the house codes (Haustafeln). Longenecker, himself, later describes Paul as ‘relaxed and non-committal’ about the issue of slavery. Is it true, then, that the writers did not grasp the wrongness of slavery? Is it enough to say that to fault the early church on this point is ‘evidence of unhistorical thinking’ on our part?